(Washington, D.C.) - The LIBRE Initiative National Spokesperson, Rachel Campos Duffy, recently authored op-eds published in National Review Online and the Huffington Post. The editorials look at the values and priorities of modern society and the direct societal impact on women and youth.

Who would have thought that a Walmart commercial could make me shed a tear and then jump out of my chair, pump my fist in the air and yell out loud "Yes"?

Well, that's exactly what happened a couple years ago when I first saw a commercial about Noemi Flores, a middle-aged Hispanic woman who earned her 20-years-of-service badge from Walmart.

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Today, there aren't enough voices in minority communities encouraging the kind of upward mobility and self-reliance Noemi exemplifies and Pope Francis encourages. In fact, it's quite the opposite. In their zeal to show compassion, liberal community activists are quick to offer government handouts and, in the process, convey the message that people are incapable of making it on their own. Similarly, President Obama's rhetoric about "fairness" and his big-government solutions to virtually every societal ill have convinced too many people that the American Dream is dead, rigged, and accessible only to the rich and well-connected. It's a self-serving message that ensures we need big government and benevolent community organizers to get through life.

Miley Cyrus' performance on the MTV Video Music Awards... brought to mind a quote by English philosopher Roger Scruton, "Beauty is vanishing from our world because we live as if it does not matter." From her wardrobe, to her props, and dancing (can we even call it that?), Miley's exhibitionism was as tragic for its raunchiness as it was for its complete lack of sensuality and beauty.

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The gatekeepers of youth culture -- adults, who produce, write and publish the things our kids read, watch and listen to -- reassure us, it's all ok. It is realism and they are just reflecting the tough, dark world so many of today's kids confront. But what ever happened to uplifting our children and reminding them that there are things like beauty and virtue that transcend even the worst of human conditions?

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The LIBRE Initiative's Women's Engagement program advocates for policies that empower women to succeed economically on their own terms without dependence on government. Latinas are crucial to economic growth and building the moral fabric of the future generations in the United States.